Weighing choices for eco-conscious living

ENVIRONMENT Weighing choices for eco-conscious living

Published 4:00 am, Sunday, October 31, 2010

Ten years ago, it all boiled down to “Paper or plastic?” But these days eco-conscious consumers are faced with more complex choices.

Ten years ago, it all boiled down to “Paper or plastic?” But these days eco-conscious consumers are faced with more complex choices.

Photo: IStockphoto.com

Weighing choices for eco-conscious living

1 / 1

Back to Gallery

Ten years ago, it all boiled down to "Paper or plastic?" That question, posed at the supermarket checkout, might have caused some momentary consternation, but by the time you'd loaded your groceries into the car, the angst was largely gone, replaced by a fleeting pledge to bring along a cloth bag next time.

But these days, eco-conscious consumers are faced with choices from the time they rise from unbleached organic sheets (shipped via carbon-spewing air mail from Sweden), until they turn off their fluorescent bedtime lights (which contain traces of mercury). Often a particular choice seems straightforward, until you dig a little deeper and look at hidden costs like production, shipping and maintenance.

Latest Living videos

We took a look at four everyday trade-offs made in the name of going easy on the environment and talked to experts Jack Macy, commercial zero-waste coordinator for the San Francisco Department of the Environment, and Darby Hoover, senior resource specialist for the Natural Resources Defense Council, to try to quantify the real costs behind each alternative and perhaps offer an option you haven't considered.

If you have everyday eco-quandaries you'd like us to investigate, e-mail them to home@sfchronicle.com. We'll dig into them and write about them in this occasional column.

Environmental impact isn't the only factor at play as you move through your day, of course: cost, convenience and personal preference count. But if you're striving to understand the eco-ramifications of your choices, this feature is designed to help.

The household spill

Dilemma: Paper towels or cloth rags?

Of course I'll: Use a paper towel. It can be recycled or composted, and it's more sanitary.

Trade-off: Unless you choose 100 percent recycled, some virgin wood fiber is being used. And chlorine bleach is commonly used to make the towels white.

Then I'll: Use a cloth rag. It's reusable, and if the cloth is an old T-shirt or towel, even better - it's diverted from the landfill.

Trade-off: It needs to be washed, requiring energy and water.

Experts say: "The general rule of thumb is that reuse is better than recycling, and that's certainly the case with cloth rags," Macy says. According to the Natural Resources Defense Council, if every household in the United States replaced just one roll of virgin-fiber paper towels (70 sheets) with 100 percent recycled ones, 544,000 trees would be spared.

But Hoover points out: "There are some things for which a paper towel is more appropriate - cleaning up after your pet, for instance. This is about making choices that have less environmental impact, more often."

Verdict: Cloth rags, washed with your regular household laundry and not in a separate load. If you choose paper towels, look for high post-consumer recycled content and processed chlorine-free (PCF), and make sure you put them in the compost or recycling bin.

The used sandwich bag

Dilemma: Wash out a plastic bag and reuse it, or toss it?

Of course I'll: Wash it. The bag is perfectly good; a thorough cleaning gets it back in the game.

Trade-off: How much hot water will it take to get it clean enough to store food in it?

Then I'll: Toss it. It's not worth the trouble.

Trade-off: More plastic added to the waste stream.

Experts say: The Environmental Protection Agency reports that a child bringing a brown-bag lunch to school every day generates an average of 67 pounds of waste per school year. Hoover says, "Typically, more than three-quarters of a product's environmental impact is in production, not disposal. So it's still an environmental gain to reuse the bag rather than throw it out, even if it takes a little water to wash." For bags that held meat, fish or something messy, reusing them for something other than food is safest.

Verdict: Skip the plastic bags altogether and wrap the sandwich in a cloth napkin, or wax paper and string, which can be composted. A reusable bento box or a stainless steel container is another option, especially if it can be run through the dishwasher with the regular load.

The morning coffee

Dilemma: Paper or reusable filter for brewing the morning coffee?

Of course I'll: Use a paper filter and grounds can be thrown into the compost bin.

Trade-off: Conventional white filters are often chlorine-bleached and can contain dioxins, which the Environmental Protection Agency has characterized as likely carcinogens.

Then I'll choose: A reusable filter. Buy it once, and no trees have to die for a cup of joe.

Trade-off: Available in hemp, cotton or plastic, they need to be washed with hot water after each use.

Experts say: "A reusable product almost always uses more resources to create, so it comes down to how many times you use it," Macy says. "If you drink coffee every day, buying the reusable filter makes most sense." Darby adds: "Whatever you do, avoid the K-Cups (single-cup beverage portions for use with the Keurig brewing system). And while it's great to compost, any system that requires new materials to create a new product is less desirable than reuse."

Verdict: Reusable is best. Grounds can be composted and filters can be washed relatively quickly or alongside other household washing. If you do stick with paper, look for filters that are recycled, unbleached or oxygen-bleached. Better yet, go filter-free with a French press.

Getting ready for the day

Of course I'll: Take a bath. That way the water's not constantly running.

Trade-off: No matter how long the bath, filling the tub requires lots of water.

Then I'll choose: A shower: I keep it short and sweet.

Trade-off: My teenager won't come out of the shower until her wrinkles have wrinkles.

Experts say: According to the California Energy Commission's Consumer Energy Center, the average bath requires 30 to 50 gallons of water. A conventional shower head uses 5 gallons of water per minute. A low-flow shower head uses half that. Macy says, "It's all about time."

Verdict: The longer you stand under the stream, the better the bath option looks. Invest in a low-flow showerhead, consider turning off the water while you lather, or put a kitchen timer on the counter to remind you (and your teenager) not to linger. And in either case, if you let the water flow first to get the temperature right, slide a bucket underneath to collect water you can use to water the garden.

Latest from the SFGATE homepage:

Click below for the top news from around the Bay Area and beyond. Sign up for our newsletters to be the first to learn about breaking news and more. Go to 'Sign In' and 'Manage Profile' at the top of the page.